So I just got a "Topic Reply Notification" and realized it's been over a year since I last visited the Village! So, what's everyone been up to since March 2011? Who's still around & active? What's new & different in your life? Get me up to speed, people!

I have a new job doing market research, and I love it. Still married, still no kids. Lost 50lbs so far, with at least 20 more to go. Husband just started a new job as a sales rep, commission-based. So I'm both thrilled and scared for that!

Why are you the way that you are? Honestly, every time I try to do something fun or exciting, you make it not that way. I hate so much about the things that you choose to be. Michael Scott

Nice to see you, lilcis! I saw on Facebook that you've been doing some traveling. Congrats on your new job!Not a lot of people come around here any more, and it makes me really sad. But the ones who do show up are high quality, so it's okay.

Since March 2011? Um, I had a kid--she's 16 months old now (two more months until Nursery!!). My oldest girl turned eight in December of last year and chose to get baptized, which was AWESOME, my second oldest declared she wanted to go to public school, so I've been doin' the carpool thing instead of the homeschool thing (The Eldest attends an online public school), my boy has discovered he loves climbing, said boy should also potty train soon since he turned three this month, and I've grown two gardens--one vastly more successful than the other. I've lost some weight, and read more books than I care to admit to.

I know that's mostly about my kids and not me, but as I told the three-year-old last night, they *are* my work. Therefore, my results usually involve them!

I'm still around. Technically I left IBM the summer of 2011, but got hired by my customer, so I'm still doing the same job, just paid (more) by someone else, and with a lot more flexibility to work remotely from my couch on a regular basis. Hooray for staying employed! We've been working on a major project for almost a year now, it's started going live at the beginning of November, so work-wise, I've been crazy busy. Oh, and I'm headed to a conference next week out in San Francisco. Any Villagers in that area?

My son has turned 6, he's in 1st grade. Kindergarten was a challenge, he has anger management issues, and was quite a handful in class. We're now seeing a therapist for that on a regular basis. Looks like we've ruled out Asperger's or Autism, though, so that's good. And he's super smart, and got into the gifted program, starting in the first grade, which is really early. He's in a class once a week, with much older kids, where they do a lot of hands-on advanced work. Like learning about rockets, and launching them behind the school. He's loving it.

The hubby is still working the same job, and also has the flexibility to work from home, and that's about the only way we're able to pull off both of us working while our son is at school, since my job is an hour commute from home/school, and my husband's job is a 45 min. commute, in the opposite direction. He's also in IT, but he's a government contractor, and really he would like to quit the job and be an independent cartoonist full-time. He's been doing a fairly popular webcomic now for 14 years. I think financially we could pull it off, but he's a very risk-averse person, and voluntarily reducing us down to just one paycheck is just a little too risky for him. The comic is able to support itself, but that's about it.

How have you been able to lose 50 lbs lilcis? And how long has it taken you to do so?

Hmmmm, Adam got a new job and we moved from San Antonio to Manteca, CA, in March of this year. (KMD, that's about an hour and a half away from San Francisco!) My oldest boy started Kindergarten in August. He went for 8 days, then we decided to homeschool him because he needs a bit more attention in the classroom than a teacher with 33 students can give him. My almost-three-year-old daughter should be potty trained. She knows how to do everything, but has decided she's just not into it right now. She is not interested in bribes, either. She is definitely her own little person. And, I had a baby boy three weeks ago. Little Sawyer is the cutest and is such a good baby. My mom has been here helping out since he was born, and she just went home today. I am a bit terrified for next week when I will be on my own with the three kids for the first time. I don't post a lot here, but I do read everything and I enjoy the friendships I've made with everyone here.

You've been at KareNin's? Lucky you! No wonder she hasn't answered my email! And lucky KareNin, to have you visiting her! I seem to have a lot of exclamation points on hand today, maybe because it's so exciting to see people posting things!

And Misty just texted me that she & Mimi are back home, and when they sat down to dinner, Mimi was running around calling "GRANDMA!! GRANDPA!!"

I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We're gonna make this a Regular Thing.

Also, found out by accident that The Don and his family were attending church at our Stake Center building yesterday. Amy's sister's family lives in one of the other wards in our Stake. How rude not to let me & Misty know ahead of time so we could have gone there too. But there will be other chances.

Well, to be absolutely precise about it, she and Mimi were here at our house for two weeks. But for a few days during that time, Tom and I drove out to Missouri to visit Steve & his family, and celebrate the January Birthdays, and visit Jon, who also lives in St. Louis, leaving Misty and Mimi behind to wrangle the dogs and clean up their unconscionable messes.

We were won over from the start; Mimi is a brilliant and verbally charming little sprite. She is very obedient and very connected to Misty, who gives every indication of being a superlative parent. She is definitely a very blessed and adorable little girl, and Yes, she does call us Grandma and Grandpa. Which is good for our lonely old hearts, since our biological grandchildren are so, so far away, and we hardly ever get to see them. It's a symbiotic relationship.